The present invention relates to an axle arrangement for a vehicular trailer, and includes at least one rigid guide axle and therebehind a follower steering axle having wheel and tire assemblies that are connected to a rigid axle member via control levers and are interconnected via a tie bar, whereby the axle members of the guide axle and of the follower steering axle are supported via connecting springs on brackets and pneumatic cushioning bellows that are secured to the chassis of the trailer.
German Patent 18 10 261 discloses a follower steering axle for a vehicular trailer. Follower steering axles of this known type are generally combined either with one rigid guide axle to form a dual axle arrangement, or are combined with two rigid guide axles to form a triple axle arrangement. The purpose of the follower steering axle is to improve the tracking behavior of the vehicular trailer as it travels through curves.
With dual and triple axle arrangements having a follower steering axle, an installation problem results due to the different center to center distances of the springs of the rigid guide axle and of the follower steering axle. In particular, the spacing between the longitudinal members of the vehicular trailer correspond to the center to center distance to the spring of the rigid guide axle, so that the brackets, connecting springs, and pneumatic cushioning bellows on each side of the trailer can be disposed in the vertical plane of the longitudinal members. However, this is not possible with the follower steering axle because the control levers still have to be disposed between the wheel and tire assemblies, which of course have the same wheel track as the wheel and tire assemblies of the rigid guide axle; in addition, the pneumatic cushioning bellows must be offset inwardly so that the wheel and tire assemblies can move inwardly. With the heretofore known axle arrangement having a follower steering axle, this installation problem is resolved by not securing the forward bracket for the connecting spring of the follower steering axle in the plane of and directly below the longitudinal members of the vehicular trailer, but rather by offsetting these brackets inwardly by half the difference between the center to center distances between the springs and next to the plane of the longitudinal members of the trailer. The distance or offset between the longitudinal members and the brackets is bridged via auxiliary constructions that on the one hand are welded and/or otherwise secured to the longitudinal members and on the other hand are secured to the brackets. These auxiliary constructions require not only an increased expense for installation and assembly, but rather are subjected for static reasons to particular stress and therefore represent a weak point.
Starting from the above, it is an object of the present invention to provide an axle arrangement that has at least one rigid guide axle and a follower steering axle, and which despite different center to center distances of the springs of the two axles provides the same connecting dimensions relative to the longitudinal members of the vehicular trailer.